"Life of Pi"

Go watch Ang Lee’s “Life of Pi”. In 3D. As soon as possible.

In what is an absolute extravaganza for the eyes, the treatment takes an otherwise difficult-to-believe story and turns it into a testament to desperation and bravery in equal measure. All the actors playing the different ages of Piscine Molitor (or “Pi”, as he will tell you) Patel do justice to the character; goes without saying, it’s the actor playing the Pi-stuck-in-the-lifeboat (Suraj Sharma) who delivers the most stellar performance. Irrfan Khan and Tabu are both as good as ever, and so is the actor who plays Pi’s father (NSD-alumni Adil Hussain).

For tiger-lovers, Richard Parker’s magnificence cannot be put into words - he is fiercely terrifying in some scenes and grudgingly submissive in some others, almost-humanely wistful in a few, majestically enthralling in every.

 

 

That said, Ang Lee’s subtle additions to and subtractions from the original script (and by original I mean Yann Martel’s book by the same name) are wonderfully easy on the eye and do nothing but add to the overall viewing experience. The parts of the film shot in India are exquisite, the special effects are mind-blowing (watch out for the scene with the jellyfish and the whale) and I have neither the courage nor the words to even begin to try to describe the brutal beauty of thunderstorm-at-sea that changes Pi’s life forever.

 

 

 

p.s. I had missed out on watching Cameron’s “Avatar” on 3D, but this one did somewhat make up for it. Yes, it’s that good.